report in Prothom Alo, Dec 12, 2022
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been successful in holding its all divisional rallies peacefully, following a flurry of twists and incidents in the political arena.
The BNP parliamentarians have declared their resignation from the legislature in the last divisional rally in Dhaka on Saturday. The party, at the same time, has unveiled a 10-point charter and vowed to wage a simultaneous movement to press materialise the demands.
They, as per the 10-point demand, will hold mass processions in all district and divisional cities on 24 December, simultaneously with all other anti-government political parties. It is expected to add a new dimension to the movement as the highly-publicized simultaneous movement will begin through the mass procession.
BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain addressed the Saturday rally in the Golapbagh sports ground as the chief guest and made the declaration of the simultaneous movement. Tens of thousands of BNP men attended the rally, which formally commenced at 111:00 am and continued until around 4:30 pm.
Before the mass procession, the BNP will stage demonstrations in all district and divisional cities on 13 December, in protest against the recent police attacks on the party men and arrests of secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee member Mirza Abbas and other BNP men.
The political arena heated up ahead of the Dhaka rally as a clash took place between the police and the BNP men amid a debate over fixing the rally venue. A leader of Swechchhasebak Dal was killed and scores were injured in the clash. The police also conducted a drive at the BNP headquarters and arrested hundreds of BNP men, including the central leaders, who took refuge there.
Adding more to the chaos, the detectives lifted BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and its standing committee member Mirza Abbas from their respective residences and showed them arrested in a case after hours of grilling.
After phases of negotiations, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) provided permission to hold the rally at the Golapbagh sports ground in Dhaka at the eleventh hour.
Thousands of BNP men rushed to the venue immediately after securing the permission on Friday afternoon. Many of them spent the entire night in the open ground.
Meanwhile, an environment of fear was created there as the ruling party brought out warm up processions in the city neighborhoods and launched a vigilant guard at different points marking the BNP programme. The BNP, however, managed to complete their mass rally peacefully.
While addressing the rally, Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain said the mass rally gives a message that it is quite impossible to restore democracy by those who destroyed it. Those who destroyed the economy cannot recover it. Those who destroyed the judiciary cannot make it neutral. Also, those who used the law enforcement agency and took it to immorality cannot control it.
The senior BNP leader also noted that the people had expressed their decisions through the previous divisional rallies that they no longer want to see the current regime in power. They want the immediate departure of this government. So, it needs to take an initiative to establish peace in the country through the resignation of the ‘government of muscle power.’
Describing the 10-point charter as ‘demand for restoration of democracy,’ he said, “We, on behalf of the BNP, have formulated the 10 points to safeguard the countrymen from the dictator and fascist government in the coming days. We have taken consent of those who speak against the fascist government.”
The BNP held the series of divisional rallies since 12 October, protesting against the unusual hike in commodity prices and killing of the BNP men as well as demanding the release of its chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and a nonpartisan government for the next general election.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in the nine previous divisional rallies that the second phase of their movement would begin from the Dhaka rally. As he has been sent to jail in a case on Friday, Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain announced the next course of movement from the Dhaka rally on Saturday. …..
https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/politics/q1c437gjev
1,223 BNP men arrested in nine days: by Emrul Hasan Bappi in The Daily Star, Dec 12, 2022
Police arrested a total of 1,223 BNP leaders and activists from different parts of the capital and produced them before the court in nine days just before the party’s December 10 rally.
The BNP men were arrested in connection with 95 cases — well known as political cases — filed with 46 police stations under Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka between December 1 and 9, according to the court’s register books.
However, no BNP men arrested in any cases filed with four other police stations of DMP — Rupnagar Police Station, Tejgaon Industrial Police Station, Hatirjheel Police Station and Dakshin Khan Police Station — were produced before the court during this time.
The charges of most of the 95 cases include blocking the road through unlawful assembly, deterring police from carrying out their duties, damage to properties, creating panic among the public and blasting explosives.
Almost all the accused arrested in the cases were sent to jail after being produced before the court between December 1 and 9, said the general registering officers of the court.
Among the 95 cases, 67 were filed with 39 police stations of DMP, including Paltan, Motijheel, Shahjahanpur, Ramna, Jatrabari, Demra, Kamrangirchar, Mirpur, Chawkbazar, Hazaribagh, Khilgaon, Kadamtali, Shyampur and Sutrapur between last November and December 8.
Some 1,052 BNP men were arrested in connection with these 67 cases between December 1 and 9, said the case documents.
Of the remaining 28 cases, 19 cases were filed between February and October this year, while two were filed in 2018, five in 2020 and another two in 2021. A total of 171 BNP men were arrested in these 28 cases between December 1 and 9 before the party’s rally in the capital.
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/politics/news/1223-bnp-men-arrested-nine-days-3194051
